Celtic goalkeeper Joe Hart set himself up for a Scottish Gas Scottish Cup final farewell – despite missing a penalty in a shoot-out in a Hampden classic against Aberdeen.
Hart hit the post with Celtic’s fifth penalty following a thrilling 3-3 draw with the Dons but the victory was only delayed. The 36-year-old saved from Killian Phillips to ensure a 6-5 shoot-out win and a final date on May 25 against Rangers or Hearts ahead of his impending retirement.
It was a semi-final that had just about everything. Celtic recovered from Bojan Miovski’s early goal to led through goals from Nicolas Kuhn and substitute James Forrest, but substitute Ester Sokler headed home at the back post in the 90th minute.
Matt O’Riley fired Celtic ahead in extra-time but stand-in Dons captain Angus MacDonald atoned for the massive blunder that led to Celtic’s equaliser when he headed home in the 119th minute.
The shoot-out somehow surpassed the drama of the actual game as Hart took centre stage.
Brendan Rodgers has enjoyed far more straightforward afternoons at Hampden but still earned a perfect 10th victory at the national stadium in his first game here since the League Cup final in December 2018.
The Dons stunned the favourites two minutes in. Leighton Clarkson played a perfect pass inside Cameron Carter-Vickers to get Miovski in behind and the North Macedonia striker beat Hart to claim his 24th goal of the campaign.
Celtic created two half-chances to equalise but Yang Hyun-jun headed over and Kelle Roos stood up to parry Kyogo Furuhashi’s effort.
Aberdeen were otherwise keeping Celtic at bay until MacDonald took a poor second touch on the ball midway inside his half in the 21st minute. Furuhashi to raced away before his effort was blocked by Stefan Gartenmann, but the ball fell kindly for Kuhn, who rolled it past a stranded Roos.
Aberdeen had the best opportunity to take an interval lead but Hart saved from Gartenmann and Celtic had a let-off in the closing stages of the half when Scales handled just outside the box, according to a VAR check.
Rodgers made his first changes in the 62nd minute, Callum McGregor replaced by Tomoki Iwata and Yang making way for Forrest. The 32-year-old had a shot blocked even before netting 90 seconds after coming on.
The winger dropped the shoulder to cut inside his man before curling a perfect shot just inside the far post from 23 yards. It was his ninth goal in the latter stages of cup competitions.
Forrest forced Roos into a diving save but the game changed with the introduction of a second Aberdeen striker, Sokler, in the 79th minute.
Aerial balls led to two excellent chances for another substitute, Junior Hoilett, but a poor first touch saw him miss the first and Carter-Vickers blocked on the line from the second opportunity.
Scales headed over from six yards and Celtic paid the price for a poor pass forward from substitute Luis Palma. The ball was worked to Hoilett, who crossed to the back post for Sokler to head home.
Sokler stabbed wide in the opening moments of extra-time, although he would possibly have been called offside if it had gone to VAR, and Celtic got back on top before taking the lead in stoppage-time of the first period.
Forrest threaded a pass that allowed Alistair Johnston to run in behind and cut back for O’Riley, who found the top corner from eight yards.
The drama continued. Adam Idah had a headed goal disallowed for offside before failing to turn O’Riley’s square ball home.
Celtic survived another VAR penalty check after Carter-Vickers caught Hoilett, the video officials backing referee Don Robertson’s view that the Aberdeen winger had committed a foul on Johnston seconds beforehand.
Sokler missed from close range before MacDonald headed home in a near carbon copy of Sokler’s equaliser to spark wild celebrations on the trackside between players and fans.
Even the shoot-out had some outrageous twists. The first seven penalties were scored before Roos went down with apparent cramp and needed treatment. Ryan Duncan hit the post after the long delay.
The Celtic fans got a shock when Hart stepped up to take the penalty that would have sent Celtic into the final. The goalkeeper also hit the post.
Hoilett netted to send the tie into sudden death but Hart had the final say.
Toronto FC v FC Dallas: Estevez wants cool heads from visitors
Nico Estevez says FC Dallas must put their trust in a long-term process as the Western Conference strugglers prepare to visit high-flying Toronto FC on Saturday.
Dallas sit 13th in the West with just two wins from nine matches this year, though they snapped a seven-game winless run by beating the Houston Dynamo 2-0 last week.
Just as Estevez refused to be too critical of his players during their poor run of form, he will avoid getting too high off the back of a single victory.
"As we always say, we're never too high and never too low. It's about taking the positive things that we did against Houston to carry through the week, having the same mentality," Estevez said.
"Also, with some of the things that we didn't do well, we'll keep improving on those.
"As we always say, it is a process and we're trying to keep growing throughout the season, while getting results."
Toronto, meanwhile, sit fourth in the Eastern Conference with 16 points from their first 10 MLS games under John Herdman.
They scored two late goals to overturn a 1-0 deficit and clinch a third straight victory against Orlando City last time out, leaving Herdman to credit his players for their resilience.
"We showed a good mentality to set the tone on how we wanted to approach it," he said.
"I thought the guys were brave from the front and stamped their physical dominance on the game. To see the shift they put in was exceptional. It was a complete performance."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Toronto FC – Prince Osei Owusu
Owusu has scored five goals for Toronto in MLS this year, his latest being a 90th-minute winner against Orlando last week. He has had 15 shots overall in 2024, converting 33.33 per cent of those.
FC Dallas – Petar Musa
Musa has scored in each of Dallas' last two matches, against the Colorado Rapids and Houston.
He has scored (three goals) or assisted (one) four of his team's seven MLS goals since the beginning of March, demonstrating his importance.
MATCH PREDICTION – DRAW
Toronto won their first-ever meeting with Dallas 4-0 in June 2007, but Dallas have only lost one of 18 subsequent regular-season meetings (11 wins, six draws).
Dallas, though, are winless in their last 11 games against Eastern Conference opponents across all competitions (five draws, six losses), dating back to a 1-0 win over Inter Miami last April.
Toronto have more league wins this season (five) than they managed through the entirety of 2023 (four), but Dallas have only lost one of their last four. A draw could be on the cards in Canada.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Toronto FC – 34.8%
FC Dallas – 35.6%
Draw – 29.6%
Saudi Pro League: Mahrez and Firmino on target as Al-Ahli tighten grip on third place
Riyad Mahrez and Roberto Firmino were both on target as Al-Ahli tightened their grip on third place in the Saudi Pro League table with a 4-1 win over Damac on Thursday.
Matthias Jaissle's team were four goals up within just 25 minutes as Damac folded, Ziyad Al Johani and Feras Al Brikan netting their first two before Franck Kessie was felled by Dhari Al Anazi for a penalty, converted by Mahrez.
Firmino then tapped home a fourth after being teed up by former Newcastle United winger Allan Saint-Maximin on the break, but Al-Ahli took their foot off the gas from there, Domagoj Antolic's second-half consolation rounding off the scoring.
Elsewhere, 10-man Al-Riyadh scored two stoppage-time draws to earn a dramatic 2-2 draw with Al-Fateh in Al-Mubarraz.
Goals from Djaniny and former Columbus Crew star Lucas Zelarayan put Slaven Bilic's hosts on the brink of victory, with Al-Riyadh playing almost half the game a player down after Khalid Al Shuwayyi's 54th-minute red card.
An astonishing collapse denied them, however, with Mohammed Al Shwirekh halving the arrears one minute into stoppage time before Didier Ndong headed in a left-wing cross three minutes later.
Thursday's other game saw Al-Hazm and Al-Akhdoud play out a goalless draw, keeping the hosts bottom of the table while Al-Akhdoud inched two points clear of the relegation zone.
Al Ittihad 1-2 Al Hilal: Holders into King's Cup final
Al Hilal overcame Sergej Milinkovic-Savic's red card as Saud Abdulhamid's late goal sealed a 2-1 victory over Al Ittihad in the King's Cup semi-finals.
Without Karim Benzema, Al Ittihad ultimately lacked the firepower to make their numerical advantage count in Tuesday's clash.
Former Lazio midfielder, who joined Al Hilal as part of their spending spree last year, received a straight red card in the 42nd minute.
Al Ittihad's Abderrazzaq Hamed-Allah cancelled out Micheal's opener, but Abdulhamid popped up with the winner in the 81st minute.
Al Hilal are 10-time King's Cup winners, having won their 10th title last season.
The Saudi Pro League leaders, who are still without the injured Neymar, will now face either Al Khaleej or Cristiano Ronaldo's Al Nassr in the final at the end of May.
Data Debrief: Malcom in the middle
Al Hilal might be missing their star Brazilian Neymar, but his compatriot Malcom is delivering when it comes to playmaking.
The former Zenit attacker set up both of Al Hilal's goals, creating three chances in total and registering a pass accuracy of 92.6 per cent, better than any of his team-mates.
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